Should Sun City be a real city?

A group of residents who want a greater voice in local development issues hope Sun City Hilton Head and some surrounding communities will become the third municipality in southern Beaufort County.

A seven-member committee, led by former Ridgeland town manager Carl Lehmann, was formed last month and announced last week it will spearhead the effort to get city status, which is called incorporation.

The new city would include two Pulte Homes communities -- Sun City and Riverbend -- minus a chunk of land that was annexed by Hardeeville. It also would contain several residential and commercial developments along S.C. 170 and U.S. 278 adjacent to the two gated communities.

On a newly launched Web site -- www.incorporatesuncity.com -- the committee cites discontent with the way the area has grown over the years as the main reason for seeking city status.

"We think it('s) fair to say that given the option, we would not encourage the rampant growth that is happening all around us," the site states.

Some residents, though, think incorporation would lead to increased property taxes.

"I just think it's another level of bureaucracy coupled with higher taxes for every homeowner," said Arthur Trager, who before coming to Sun City worked as an attorney for the city of Mt. Vernon, N.Y.

But the resident committee states the city it envisions would have limited services and low taxes. Services can mean paying for a local fire station and firefighters, the collection of garbage, installation and maintenance of street lights and other activities. Cities and towns also can enter contracts with the county government to provide services, which is how Hilton Head Island pays for law enforcement.

The Web site said the proposed city's costs could be covered by state dollars given out to every municipality. The state distributes $28.50 per resident to its cities and towns.

Chuck Lynch, a Riverbend resident on the committee, said creating a city is more about checking rapid growth than it is about providing expensive new services.

In the past such claims have not always panned out, however.

"You can anticipate you will have city taxes if you are going to be a city," said Howard Duvall, executive director of the South Carolina Municipal Association.

A new city would have the power to make zoning decisions within its boundaries. If approved it also would make it trickier for Hardeeville to expand any further into the McGarvey's Corner area, the intersection of S.C. 170 and U.S. 278. Since the summer of 2007, Hardeeville has expanded its boundaries in that direction, annexing roughly 1,300 acres, including a section of Sun City.

Trager said the new city's control of local development still would be limited.

"We wouldn't have jurisdiction if we became a city of things outside the city limits," he said.

Another critic of the plan, Sun City resident Karen Heitman, said she could think of an easier way to influence local developments.

"If Sun City residents want to have an effect on the development going on around them, they just need to attend the meetings" of local municipal and county governments.

The resident group wants to collect about 2,000 signatures which it states would be more than the 15 percent of registered voters as required by the state. It also would have to create a feasibility study for the Secretary of State's office to review.

If approved by the state, residents in the proposed city would have a chance to vote on whether they want to be incorporated. If the voters say yes, then there would be votes to determine the name of the municipality, its form of government and selection of a city council.

On its Web site, the group lays out its plan: hold a series of public meetings, collect the signatures and submit documents to the state by October. According to the group's timeline, the Sun City city could be a reality by next spring.